Zashchitniki, or Guardians in English, is a new Russian superhero movie coming to the big screen next year. Thanks to SFX for the heads up on this one.
Quite a few choices this weekend, I may just end up spending most of it sitting in dark rooms staring at big screens. Morgan was created using artificial genetic material, has been kept in a lab his whole life, and now a consultant is going to decide if he lives or dies. The 9th Life of Louis Drax is about a boy who died for two hours, and was revived, but has a secret that poses a serious mystery. Skiptrace has Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville as a Hong Kong detective and an American gambler charging across Asia to take down a Chinese crime lord. Bingbing Fan and Eve Torres are both in the action/comedy as well, it looks very entertaining. Finally Yoga Hosers was written and directed by Kevin Smith, so you know it is going to be full of silly fun. It is a spinoff of 2014’s Tusk, going into more detail on the two convenience store clerks we first saw in that film, but with a lot more humor.
Movies have the live action version of The Jungle Book hits the shelves this week, bringing home the latest incarnation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic story. TV’s Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season Two really ramps up the action in the animated battle for the fate of the galaxy.
Anime did better this week with When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace: Complete Collection getting my vote for best title. A variation on Magical Girls, the one boy in the school club with powers is pretty unimpressive. Doamayger-D is a tip of the hat to old-school Mecha shows from the 70s and 80s, right down to the animation style. The episodes are very short, weighing in at 3 minutes or so each, and the premise is a bit goofy; the giant Mecha fights the monsters by creating elaborate deserts. When the monsters eat the deserts they turn back into human beings. Beelzebub Part 1 is the first 30 episodes of this 2011 series which has not been previously released in the US as far as I can tell. It is about a delinquent who finds a mystical baby who makes his life difficult by doing things like throwing lightning bolts around.
Arrival hits theaters November 11, and watching this trailer it looks like it could be a winner. Mankind is on the edge of global war thanks to the aliens prodding, forcing the team to race against time for answers to how to stop the war and greet their visitors. Amy Adams plays expert linguist Louise Banks, and this appears to be her vehicle; I will enjoy finding out where she drives it.
I am going to be seriously disappointed if this one never gets made, if only for the excellent cartoon versions of each of the characters Stephen Byrne managed to create. That can’t be too much of a surprise, since he is one of the artists actually doing the Serenity comic book with Joss Whedon. I don’t seem to be alone in that opinion; as Grasshopper said in the YouTube comments: If this isn’t real so help me I will hunt you down and MAKE YOU MAKE IT!!! Another good clue might be that Nathan Fillion immediately started following him when this video was posted; we might actually get some new stories out of this!
This awesome little Sherlock parody was done by The Hillywood Show, see how many original episodes you can name from the scenes. You should at least be able to recognize each of them if you are a fan of the series, even if the name escapes you. They also did a great job with the music and lyrics, turning this into an excellent music video. It was only posted three days ago, and already has over 800,000 views. They parody a lot of other shows and movies, and manage to attend a number of cons, so I will be looking for them as I book any events I will be making.